HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL -15 March 1989
香港立法局
————————一九八九年三月十五日
Death penalty
19
3. MR. MCGREGOR asked: Will the Government consider taking the necessary steps to abolish the death penalty in Hong Kong?
CHIEF SECRETARY: No, Sir. The Government believes that the death penalty is the appropriate sentence for the crime of murder.
MR. MCGREGOR: Sir, in that case why do we not hang our murderers at present, and will we begin to do so before 1997?
CHIEF SECRETARY: Sir, may I refer Members to the statement made by the then Colonial Secretary in 1975. The situation remains basically unchanged since then. It is as follows: "Any prisoner, Sir, sentenced to death in Hong Kong has the right to petition Her Majesty the Queen for clemency. The Queen, in reaching her decision, acts upon the advice of the appropriate United Kingdom minister, namely the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. In tendering his advice to the Queen, the Secretary of State must take into account the likely reaction of the United Kingdom Parliament to which he is answerable for the advice which he tenders to Her Majesty. Recent Secretaries of State have been of the opinion that they would not be supported in the House of Commons if they were to advise that death sentences should be carried out in Hong Kong. Moreover, there are no signs that this attitude of the House of Commons is likely to change in the immediate future." The Administration therefore sees no prospect of any change from the present position, Sir. As regards the situation in 1997, the draft Basic Law provides that laws previously enforced in Hong Kong, except for those inconsistent with the Basic Law, or amended by the legislature of the Special Adminstration Region, shall be maintained. There is no indication that our present legal provisions on death sentences need to be changed or revised as a result of the draft Basic Law. Whether the power of commuting the death sentence will be exercised after 1997, Sir, is a matter on which I would not wish to speculate.
倪少傑議員問:我所要問的,麥理覺先生已經問了一部份,但我仍然希望指出,根據布政司的答 覆,對謀殺罪犯判處死刑是適當的。多年來我們沒有執行過死刑,有等於無。香港社會是華人佔 多數的社會,所以「殺人者死」,古有明訓。為維護社會秩序和符合中國傳統的倫理思想,政府 可否重新考慮,採取一些步驟,在赦免方面訂定新的準則?對被判死刑者,恢復執行,以符合刚 才布政司所說的「適當」意義。